WHEN Shane Warne takes drugs and tests positive, not only the Australian Cricket Board takes action against him, but the entire world comes to know about it. He is withdrawn from the World Cup squad without playing a game and a very healthy tradition is gifted to the game of cricket by the Australian Cricket authorities.
This is called transparency at its best form. Australian players are shocked but not demoralized. They perform even better without Warne and end up winning the World Cup. The sad saga of talking performance-enhancing drugs is nipped in the bud once and for all.
Pakistan Cricket, by contrast, is plagued by intrigues, favouritism, match-fixing allegations and has all the more reasons to be transparent than any other cricketing nation in the world. The Pakistan Cricket Board, Gen. Tauqir Zia and the entire nation has been seriously let down by the Selection Committee led by Wasim Bari. There is so much at stake, particularly the interest and involvement of the entire nation, that the affairs and management of the cricket board should be publicly accountable.
It has also been established beyond the shadow of any doubt that financial incentives are not the only instrument to motivate a team. There could be other motivating factors such as the selection of a captain, the emphasis on performance for the selection of team and a motivating environment for a team to perform, etc. The matter is too sensitive to be left alone in the hands of people totally devoid of simple management practices and concepts.
Some responsibility for the extremely depleted performance of the Pakistan cricket team in the ICC World Cup 2003 in South Africa lies with Wasim Bari. He is the chief selector and cannot get away with the flimsy excuse that he was not responsible for the selection of the captain. He can’t just shift the blame on the cricket board and management for this disastrous display of batting, bowling, fielding and, above all, the lack of mental toughness of the Pakistan squad. The fact of the matter is that while Mr Bari selected a team to be led by captain Waqar Younis, he was in complete agreement with the decision of the Cricket Board to continue with Waqar Younis, otherwise he should have resigned.
Mr Bari’s handling of his job has led to the nation being disappointed in him. He was held in high esteem due to his profound contributions as a player and more so as a wicket-keeper of world class. Strangely enough, during Mr Bari’s recent stint as the Chief Selector, Pakistan is performing in the same manner as it did under his captaincy. Mr Bari emphasized the fact that 1O players out of World Cup squad have played in World Cup matches previously. Secondly, he also said that majority of the players in the squad have also played recently in South Africa and have experience of the pitches there. But are these reasons enough to justify one’s inclusion in the team? Certainly not. The most important criterion for selection should be how an individual has performed in those pitches and in those conditions apart from physical fitness, match temperament and all round skills, the most important being fielding.
Looking at Pakistan’s performance on the South African tour, we lost both the Tests and four out of the five ODIs. Therefore, if a team which had played in South Africa was selected, then, to begin with according to the Mr Bari’s reasoning, a team of losers was selected. Moreover, Mr Bari maintains that the tour management was responsible for selecting the 11 players for a particular match. Well, the tour management had the limitation of picking up the team from the 15 sent by Mr Bari, whereas he had the luxury of selecting a team from a multitude of talent available in the country.
When the selection process is based on established and publicly-known criteria that is applied consistently and uniformly, that it can be made public and defended properly too. The help and assistance of renowned cricket experts from within and outside the country can be taken for this. Dossiers of players should be made and regularly updated. Methods should be creatively developed for rewarding players with distinction and outstanding record. MIS experts should work closely with cricketing experts to come with players’ dossiers at the touch of the finger.
The entire purpose is to run cricket on scientific lines and get the involvement of public for each event, and create a transparency level that can be made public and defended by applying the same consistently and uniformly.
WHEN Shane Warne takes drugs and tests positive, not only the Australian Cricket Board takes action against him, but the entire world comes to know about it. He is withdrawn from the World Cup squad without playing a game and a very healthy tradition is gifted to the game of cricket by the Australian Cricket authorities.
